“Coming in or are you going to stay out here all night?”
He sighed, the weight of what he had to do, weighed heavily on him. This would be the first time he set eyes on her since walking away. “I guess I’m coming in.” When he walked in there was a party going on. Several of the calendar bachelors were seated at a long table, posing for photos with the women of Rainbow Springs. Ava was selling postcards and prints on the other side of the room. He made his way to her. “Ava. Can we talk?”
“There’s nothing to talk about Kade. I’m keeping the baby but I don’t expect anything from you. Be involved as little or as much as you want.” Her attention went back to a few tourists buying prints.
“I don’t think so, Ava.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her around the tall counter, a gasp escaped at the small bump at her middle, showing clearly in the fitted dress she wore. His hand went to her stomach, awe on his face. “We should talk.”
“There’s nothing left to say, Kade.”
“Fine you listen and I’ll talk.” He pulled her behind him away from the crowd and into one of the small studios. He turned and pulled her hands to his heart. “Ava I’m so sorry for walking out last week, for laughing about what you said to Bruce. It touched me, so damn much. I just couldn’t believe that a woman as smart and beautiful and kind as you could actually love me.” He smiled and kissed her forehead, “I didn’t even think I was capable of loving anyone until Bruce told me my fake fiancé was in love with me.”
Her eyes widened. “He did? And he still signed the contract anyway?”
Kade nodded with a smile. “Said he was impressed with my business skill but more impressed I was able to get a woman like you to fall for me.” He reached for the brown paper covered package against the wall. “I have something for you Ava.” He unwrapped the photo while he spoke. “You see I was convinced we were both playing at being in love that I was too blind to see we had both fallen. I admit I was skeptical when Bruce said you loved me even though I was pretty sure I loved you.” He grabbed her shoulders and twirled her to face the photo. “But when I looked at this photo of us, I knew we were both fooling ourselves. I love you so much Ava and I want us to be a family, me and you and our baby.”
Ava looked at the photo and tears sprang instantly at the look of love she saw shining, in both their eyes. She couldn’t believe it. This man, this big lovable man who took care of everyone was hers. “I love you too Kade and I want to be yours and I want you to be mine. Forever.”
Kade looked down at the love shining in her eyes and he was sure she could see the same reflected back in his. He knew he would do anything in the world to keep that beautiful smile on her face, to have her always look at him like he was some kind of hero. “I’ll be yours for forever and beyond Ava. As long as you let me love you, I will.”
“Good because I already tried to stop loving you and I couldn’t. So I think you’re stuck with me.” She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss.
“Baby there’s no person I’d rather be stuck to in all the world.” He planted a soft kiss on her lips. “Ava you beautiful creature, will you marry me?”
She nodded, her smile so wide her face hurt. “Really? Kade I’d marry you tomorrow if I could.”
“Sweetheart I’m a billionaire, you want to get married tomorrow then we’ll get married tomorrow.”
Her eyes widened and she wrapped her arms around his waist. “Sophie, I’m getting married tomorrow!”
“It’s about damn time.”
THE END
Russian Billionaire’s Secret
Burk Androv sat in his office looking over the newest reports from his assistant. The numbers didn't match the data and he suspected the man was skimming money off the accounts. He was angry about this discovery. Someone stealing from his board members, investors, and the company wasn't something he'd expected to find.
He just needed to make sure before he turned him over to the authorities and figured out where the money was going. He was keeping this a secret from his investors and everyone else in his company, for now. He knew there was risks by not alerting the right authorities, but he was doing it for the right reasons. He didn't want to destroy lives until he knew for sure who was involved and what was going on.
He knew that being from a Russian family that had ties back to the mob in his home country wouldn't look good for his company, and the best way to handle this was to go public with it himself. He hoped to handle the situation with enough openness that his shareholders didn't blame him when it all came out into the open.
He was the CEO of a fortune 500 company, and it brought in an average of three billion a year, but the last couple of years they'd been hitting the five billion mark and it showed promise of going up in the coming years. His shareholders would not take kindly to someone screwing with the finances behind their back and stealing money, but he also couldn't alert his assistant that he had figured it out and scare him into hiding before he got to the bottom of this mess, and recovered the money. He assumed it was his current assistant. He had access to all the files, his passwords and emails, there was no one else who could have done it.
He rubbed his eyes and sighed. He was tired. He wanted to focus on moving the company forward, not fighting to keep it afloat and out of the media circus that would come from finding out that someone he trusted had wormed his way inside the inner circle in order to send funds back to a Russian mob unit to support their arms dealing or drugs.
Burk knew that the right thing to do was turn him over to the right people, but he also knew if he didn't get enough proof, and make it so they could take him away on the spot and hold him, Alek would be likely to disappear forever, along with all the money he'd been hiding in an offshore account. He had to handle this carefully. This wasn't a tiny sum of money, this was close to a billion dollars over the last few years that he'd been collecting.
He wondered how no one in accounting had caught it by now, but there was a good chance Alek had paid for someone to overlook the discrepancies and help him cover them up. This wasn't the type of job one person could have done alone, which meant in order to discover everyone involved, he had to keep it a secret for now.
He just wished he didn't. He knew there was a good chance he'd take the blame for this, they were setup in his name, his passcode and usernames were setup to mess with the accounts, and he'd trusted Alek. The violation he felt at realizing that his closest advisor and friend had been taking advantage hurt of him. He didn't have many friends, but he'd trusted Alek, and it cut deep that he'd do this.
He couldn't think of any situation that Alek could be in that would justify what he'd done.
Burk took pictures and stored it on a small flash drive of all the files. Then took screenshots on the computer of all the incorrect files and data that was in the company files that didn't match the original hand-written copies.
No one ever really compared the hand written files to the ones stored on the computer. Everyone did everything electronically now, but the paper ones weren't easily changed, not like on a computer with a simple stroke of a few buttons.
He just needed to finish collecting his proof, and then he'd be able to do something about it. He just wished it wasn't Alek. He'd known Alek since they were teenagers. He'd specifically hired Alek on and paid him far more than any assistant would ever get paid in order to send money back to his family in Russia so they could work on getting their green cards at some point.
He couldn't understand how Alek could betray him like this. He would get to the bottom of it. Eventually, and when he confronted him, he wanted all the evidence in place.
Violet Dominick stood in front of her supervisor’s desk at the FBI office and waited for her new assignment. She curled and uncurled her toes in her shoes, trying not to show her impatience at having to wait for the man sitting in front of her to notice she was there.
Eventually, he looked up and waved her closer to his desk and Violet walked over.
&n
bsp; "We had an anonymous tip that we need to investigate a kidnapping. There's big money involved, and a Russian business corporation is in the middle of it. We put all the details in the file, your job is to infiltrate and find out where the kidnap victim is being held, and who the man is paying the money too. We have an inside man already, you'll be working closely with the person we suspect of stealing all the money to get evidence so we can make an arrest and rescue the family that's being held for ransom." Her boss told her.
"What's my cover?" Violet asked. Normally for undercover work, they gave her a very specific identity along with the information.
"You're going in as yourself, but we'll be giving you a new set of credentials. We figured since it's possible you'll see people since it's a local job that might call you by your real name, it was safer to not give you an alias that might be discovered," He pushed the file across the desk to her. "This is everything you need to know, you start Monday. He got you an interview with the CEO for a second personal assistant. Keep him close. He's the man we've got our eye on. Do whatever it takes to get the information we need."
"Do you mean… anything?" Violet had been required to sleep with informants in the past, it was a hush hush part of the job, but if that's what it took to keep a family safe, she had no guilt doing it. Sleeping with the enemy was part of the job requirement and sometimes it was literally sleeping with the enemy.
"Yes. Whatever it takes." Her boss nodded at her and then dismissed her. "You know the drill." Violet grabbed the file and walked out of the office and opened it, getting all the information she would need for the job. She was good at what she did. Even though she'd thought about retiring the last year or two. She wondered if she'd miss the excitement and the next assignment and it had kept her from leaving.
That, and she hadn't found the right man yet to give her a reason to quit such a dangerous line of work.
Violet was in an outfit that suited an office environment, but she was truly most comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. She hated all the formal wear she was required to wear, either on the job as an FBI agent, or undercover. She'd even been undercover as a stripper once, and she felt more comfortable half naked breaking a sex ring up, than she did in a business suit and pumps.
She followed the instructions she'd been given and walked into his office, seeing Burk sitting there, staring at his computer, looking serious. His good looks and aristocratic features were the first thing she noticed about him. His serious expression as he studied the laptop in front of him was the second. She took quick inventory of his office, and how he reacted when a stranger appeared and interrupted him. All things she'd need to know for future interactions.
"Hello?" She called out, knocking on the door that she'd half-way opened.
"Come on in, Violet right?" He closed his laptop quickly and put his hands on the desk, waiting for her to come in.
He'd allowed his HR to talk him into hiring a second personal assistant. They'd insisted the work load required it, but given what he knew about Alek, he knew that he'd need to replace him eventually, so he'd agreed after being resistant to it for the last couple years.
"Yes, I'm Violet, I'm here to get a list of things you need me to do." She told him quietly and came in. Pretending to be demure and quiet, neither trait she normally possessed. Or, at least she tried to pretend.
Her mocha colored skin and blue eyes were an interesting contrast, her dark hair hung loosely down her back in gentle waves and it made Burk want to tangle his fingers in the long strands of hair. He cleared his throat and tried to not think of her that way. She was supposed to be his assistant, and it wasn't right to think of touching her before she even finished her first day on the job.
"Here are the files," Burk told her, pushing them across his desk. He'd organized them earlier for his new assistant so these had no confidential information and anyone could have handled the work load. After Alek's betrayal and his need for secrecy to figure out what was going on, he wasn't trusting anyone.
"Yes, Sir," Violet told him, her eyes half shut as she looked up at him and let a slightly seductive smile curve her lips.
Instead of being rational, and avoiding his desires like he would with most women, he blurted out the question he wanted to know before he could stop himself, "Will you have dinner with me tonight?"
Violet blinked at him, and then slowly nodded, clutching the files to her chest and grinned at him. This was easy, too easy. For a moment she wondered what the catch would be especially since he didn't have a history of dating employees. In fact, he had always been against it according to their man on the inside of his company.
"Absolutely, any preference on attire?" She asked him bluntly, assuming that's what he'd prefer. He seemed like the type to want to be in control. Her goal was to read people, get information and that meant being able to judge a person instantly to react accordingly.
"Wear something comfortable, but classy. A dress." He told her and watched her leave. The pencil skirt she wore showed off her figure to perfection and all he could picture was putting his hands around her waist and pulling her close, his hands sliding down to cup the perfect butt she showed him when she turned to walk away.
He was going to take her dancing.
Violet left the room, feeling satisfied and shocked by how quickly he'd noticed her. He wasn't known for dating his employees, but they knew what they were doing when they picked her for this job. She had something he'd want. Even if it was simply that she was the type of woman he was attracted too. They would have known this when they assigned her the job.
She didn't really think she'd be so antsy for tonight, but it was hard getting through her pretend work day, doing actual drudgery work to get it done with it. By the time she got done, she was getting tired, but she went home, slammed back some caffeine, and got in the shower to wake herself up.
She'd dropped her address and phone number off along with the files she'd taken care of that day to Burk before she left to go home and clean up and change. He was coming to get her tonight.
He had silver at his temples which didn't age him, it just made him look distinguished. His thick Russian accent had her aching to run her hands up his body and hear him whisper to her in his native tongue. She was shocked at her own extreme reaction to him, he was supposed to be her mark, her job.
She knew that she couldn't let herself actually get emotionally involved, but something about the way his dark eyes looked when he looked at her, tugged at her heartstrings. Her job here was to find out of if he was a good man, a bad man, or a criminal man.
She prepared for their date and waited for him to come pick her up. She put on a slinky little gold dress, high heels, and gold hoops in her ears. She put on minimal makeup, knowing she didn't really need more than eyeliner and lip gloss. She wanted his attention on the low-cut dress and her breasts. A little alcohol, a little cleavage, and men often started talking about business when you started removing clothes.
For once, the idea of using her body to get information didn't bother her. He was different, she wasn't quite sure why. Burk was good looking, but it had to be more than his physique. His broad shoulders tapered to a fit waist and strong legs. His jacket hadn't been able to hide the muscles in his arms and upper back. She wanted to lick him from head to toe. Physical desire was definitely there, but there was something else.
She would actually enjoy this for a change.
Violet went outside, walking over to Burk and opened the door to climb into the Mercedes SUV. She smiled at him when she got in, Burk complimented her on her outfit and she put her hand on his leg and playfully flirted with him while he drove. She kept it simple and didn't touch him overly sexual, just enough to give him a hint of tension to fuel the flames of their chemistry together.
Burk was quiet for the most part as they drove to the night club he'd picked out, he had a table reserved for dinner, and then they'd have access to the dance floor when they were ready. He was second guessing asking her out o
n a date. She was beautiful and he wanted to remove that sexy dress she was wearing and touch every inch of her flesh underneath, but he wondered if he was making the right choice giving in to his desire for her. He never dated people from work, and she'd been so quick to accept, it made him concerned.
Picking up the switch in moods from Burk, Violent wondered how to play out this evening and decided that maybe by throwing enough personal details out there, it would have him relax a little bit and distract him from his thoughts.
"So, I grew up around here. I assume you didn't based on your accent, but I could always be wrong," Violet said gently, hoping to get him talking.
"I grew up in Russia. I started a business back there, and moved it here when I got my green card, and eventually my citizenship. I've made a point to hire people with green cards to support those who want to achieve their dreams." Burk told her as he pulled into the parking area and rolled down his window to give the Valet his keys and a fifty dollar bill.
They opened the doors for the two of them and Burk escorted Violet inside, leaving the silence slightly awkward.
Violet was feeling frustrated by the time she sat down. She'd tried a couple more times to get him to open up, but the more she pushed, the quieter he got. She wasn't sure what was bothering him, but she could tell something was.
Ordering a vodka on the rocks, she watched him. He ordered a white wine and then looked over his menu. The place was fancy, fancier than Violet was used too, but she didn't comment on that, instead she observed him. After he drank his wine, he started to relax a little, and that's when she pounced.
SHEIKH'S SURPRISE BABY: A Sheikh Romance Page 18